Keep Calm and Insert Coin: Always Wear Protection

There is a lot of things that are happening in the next couple of months. The Super Bowl was today and good thing we didn’t see any wardrobe malfunctions. But the half time show wasn’t bad. We were introduced to a few new movie trailers that are making me happy and giddy for 2018. And the scariest thing to happen is I turn 45 on March 4th. And to this day I am still having flashbacks of my video game years. So this one should be no different except I was six years old. SIX!!!!! You have got to be kidding me!!!!!!!

Just about every year to every other year, my family and I would go to Arizona to visit my grandparents since they moved there from Indiana. Something about there was no snow there in the winter. And not sure how it happens, but I really remember going there and hanging out at the clubhouse, only because they had a pool table and shuffleboard game. It was pretty cool. Anyway, one thing my parents always tried to do was keep us entertained. And that they did. That year, we went to a place in Arizona called Rawhide. It was basically an old western town with the old stores, saloons, barber shop, and even a gift shop. I guess they had monogrammed shot glasses in the old west!

But believe it or not, they actually had a penny arcade. The majority of the games there were the really old ones from the 50’s and 60’s along with some pinball machines and a couple newer games too. But the one that really caught my eye was the Atari Football. This was a two player game with these huge oversized trackballs that you used for executing your selected play. This was THE original Madden football. I do remember the sound wasn’t that great. But it still was a pretty fun game to play. But how do I remember this game so well?

If you look on the KLOV.com site, it will give you a couple hints and tricks to play the game. No-one said anything about gloves back then. I remember getting my thumb caught in the oversized trackball a couple times. Enough to pinch the hand and cause a couple blisters. Come on, my hands were overly small and the trackball was huge. And it was funny because I have a friend who actually has a fully working version of this in Chicago and when I played it there, I actually had the same problem closed to 30 years later. I guess pain does last forever. Heck, I still remember when I was running down the sidewalk and tripped and skinned up both my knees. I was ab…. that’s not important.

I thought video games are supposed to be fun and entertaining. They aren’t supposed to hurt us. I remember about 15 years ago, I slammed my wrist into the side of a Golden Tee Golf before they started to post warnings. And even the memory of blisters from playing Track and Field. Yeah, that game pretty much says, you are gonna get hurt! Stupid button shields! And virtual reality games are supposed to be visually entertaining, not make you want to throw up. That didn’t happen to me, but I did experience that when VR first came out.

Ok, I guess there is a moral of the story this time. The lesson is, when you play video games, like any athlete that plays professional sports, you need to make sure that you are always wearing protection. Because if you don’t you will definitely get the scars to prove your stupidity. And when that happens, all you can do is…..

Brad has been a die hard arcade fan ever since he can remember. From the first time he played Space Invaders, to the first time he played Pacman, Brad has always had a love for video games. Hanging out at either the Great American Fun Factory in the mall, or spending the night in front of the glowing games at the local roller rink, he was always thinking about when he can spend the next quarter.
He also worked at Babbages, which is now GameStop, for over six years. Mostly because they had a really sweet checkout policy on new products and great discounts. But since he had the Atari 2600, he has never looked back and owned some of the greatest home machines, NES, SNES, GENESIS, Turbo Graphix 16, GameBoy, Game Gear, Lynx, Playsation 1,2,3,4 and Vita, XBOX, Gamecube, and N64...just to name a few.
Brad is also a reviewer for Mobile Beat Magazine as well as a freelance videographer, part time disc jockey, performing artist and photographer. But has a true love is for video games and Star Wars, as he is a member of the 501st Central Garrison.
His ultimate dream is to own a fully working pinball machine and arcade machine. Difficult to say which one, but a Star Wars one would be nice start.